A Song for the Forgotten

The Road to the Country opens in 1967 with its hero, Kunle, at a desk writing. He is trying to ‘free himself’ of a guilt he has carried for a decade. When Kunle was nine, to spend time with his sweetheart, Nkechi, he sends his brother, Tunde, out of the house. This harmless act—throwing a football into the street for Tunde to fetch—results in a car accident that cripples Tunde. The injury severs Kunle’s relationship with Nkechi, tethering her to Tunde, and thrusting Kunle into himself, so that ‘he has no friends and has avoided—as if by some inner protestation—anything that could bring him close to anyone.’ Kunle is a law student at the University of Lagos, but he is so insular he does not know about the war brewing in his country. When he learns Tunde has followed Nkechi into Eastern Nigeria, the region now calling itself Biafra, it is this desire for absolution that propels him into finding his brother.